Page 8 of Gaming with the Gargoyle in Hallow's Cove

“I just realized that if you had a kid, they’d be able to inherit, too.”

“Yeah, sorry, I definitely don’t have a kid somewhere.”

He squeezes me tight, and even in this moment where everything is going wrong, he makes everything feel like it should be. Not magically better, but right. My stomach is flipping with butterflies, like it so often does when Gabe hugs me. I think I have such a strong association with him and flying that I get that swooping feeling when he holds me close, even not in the air.

If only there were a way… if only… and then Jake’s suggestion pops into my head.

“Gabe’s a Fairfield, just have him knock you up.”

Of course! It’s so simple, so perfect that it’s crazy. It’s still sort of ridiculous, but it also makes a ridiculous amount of sense. Nerves flare in my belly at even suggesting it, but I can’t help but wonder, what would Rena, my rogue do? She’d charge right in.

“What if—” I start. “What if we had a baby?” I can’t even look at him, but now that I’ve started talking I can’t stop. “We don’t have to have sex or anything, we can just, like—turkey baster it. And there’s really no one else I’d ever want to raise a kid with. We’d keep the store and I wouldn’t have to move away and lose you.”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down.” He pushes back from our hug, his hands on my shoulders. “Move away and lose me? Where is this coming from? We can’t just have a baby to fix this.”

“Gabe! I have nothing else, and anyways, why not?” I know it sounds flippant, but I really want to hear his reasons why it is a bad idea, because the more I think about it, the more perfect it sounds.

“Because!” he sputters. “Because… well… it’s ridiculous!”

“I know! And it’s perfect!” I’m smiling like a kid in a candy shop, because that really is how it feels… perfect. Because now that I’ve thought of it? I don’t just want this baby to solve our problems.

I want this baby.

I wantGabe’sbaby.

If imagining my life without him was blurry and horrible, imagining what raising a kid together would be like is crystal clear. We’d all live in the house, we’d run the store together and our kiddo would rule the roost, the apple of our eyes. It was like everything we had now, but better.

“Gwen, we will have this baby for the rest of our lives. A baby isn’t a solution to a problem, it’s a gift.”

“Yes, I know that. And…. I want to have your baby. I think we’d make great parents, and think about it, you couldn’t have better parents than a pair of best friends. Our kid would have an amazing life. Seriously.”

“No one will really ever date you if you have a kid with your best friend who is hanging around all the time.”

“I don’t care.” And I don’t, because imagining a life with me, Gabe, and our baby? It feels complete. “I don’t need anyone else. I don’t need anyone but you.”

I grab his hand and lead him over to sit in our chairs. It’s hard for me to read his face in the dark, I can’t see well at night like him, but I can imagine it. I bet his brow ridges are raised, and he’s got that amused little smile he gets when he thinks I’ve really lost it.

“Think about it. Really think about it. Every time I picture every other scenario for my life it feels wrong. I belong here, with you. And if our family looks a little different from some other family? So what? I honestly think we’d be so happy. We’re so happy now, a baby would only add to that.”

“Gwen—” Gabe’s voice is strained. He’s caving, I know it. “We can’t—I mean—I can’t. Like, I physically can’t.”

Oh shit. Maybe Gabe really hasn’t sexually matured yet. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen porn sites in our browser history… and like, he comments when character designs are hot… But fuck, if he’s not sexually mature at twenty seven? It’s hard to believe, but every species is different…

“Gargoyles only produce semen during sex,” he blurts out.

I can’t help but laugh. “Yeah Gabe, that’s kinda how it works. You scared me for a minute there. I thought you meant like… you hadn’t gotten there yet. I was so confused, dude. I was like, seriously you aren’t jacking off yet?”

“No, I’m serious. And leave me alone, I’ve been mature for years now. I know we’re late but not that late. I mean that when I jack-off it doesn’t have semen. It’s like our bodies know when we are actually having sex. So no, I physically cannot go into a closet with a video and come out with a cup of baby batter for you. It just… doesn’t work that way.”

I blink. “Huh? Like, your body just knows? How?”

“I don’t know, ask your mom, she’s the biologist. I just know those are the rules. Intercourse equals viable cum, jacking off equals no swimmers in the stream.”

“So then, we have sex.” The words roll out of my mouth, and over my body as I say them. I feel them. I feel the idea wash over me and settle between my legs. Fuck, I like it. I want it. I want to have sex with Gabe.

Gods, I can feel how wet I’m getting just thinking about it. Gabe, over me, his massive body blocking out my vision so I only see him. Those gorgeous lips kissing mine? I had such a crush on him in high school, but he’d been oblivious. I moved on, obviously you can’t pine after someone forever, but it’s like my crush has been there, smoldering under the surface. And the second I’ve thought about him fucking me, it’s raging inside me again.

“Gwen… I can’t.”